


It’s a beautiful night, we’re looking for something dumb to do (hey baby, I think I wanna marry you)

by emilywritesfics



Series: Murphy has a kid [3]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Dad!Murphy, F/M, Kid Fic, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26485657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilywritesfics/pseuds/emilywritesfics
Summary: “Dad.”“James.”“Now that Harper’s my mom, can I help you ask her to marry you?"----Murphy decides to ask Harper to marry him. James wants to help.
Relationships: Harper McIntyre/John Murphy
Series: Murphy has a kid [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/461308
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7
Collections: The t100 Writers for BLM Initiative





	It’s a beautiful night, we’re looking for something dumb to do (hey baby, I think I wanna marry you)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mylifeiskara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mylifeiskara/gifts).



> Thank you to [Kara](https://queenemori.tumblr.com/) for prompting and donating for this, [Brooke](https://broashwhat.tumblr.com/) for creating the amazing moodboard for this fic, and [Miranda](https://sparklyfairymira.tumblr.com/) for betaing!
> 
> This is the second fic in the Murphy has a Kid!AU, so it may be confusing if you haven't read the first fic

* * *

Murphy and Harper had been dating for a year when Murphy seriously started to think about proposing. 

It kind of scared him how much he wanted to marry her. A year ago, he had thought that marriage just wasn’t in the cards for him.

Murphy didn’t know if a year was too soon to propose. Was there some sort of etiquette on this? He decided to ask Bellamy.

“Clarke and I got engaged after six months,” Bellamy said. He and Murphy were sitting on Bellamy’s porch with Alex, Bellamy and Clarke’s one-year-old daughter, watching James chase birds around the backyard. Clarke was inside, which Murphy was thankful for because he didn’t want her to know, in case she told Harper.

“You and Clarke were friends for six years beforehand,” Murphy pointed out. He watched as James tried to sneak up behind a blue-jay.

“I still don’t think a year is too early,” Bellamy said, “it depends though.”

“On?” 

“What Harper thinks.” 

James gave up on catching a bird, and walked over to a tree and started hitting it with a stick he found on the ground. 

“Doesn’t asking her ruin the surprise?” Murphy asked. 

“You have to know if she wants to get married at all.”

“She does. We’ve talked about it hypothetically, but we haven’t talked about, like, when.”

“So then ask.”

So, Murphy asked her. “Do you want to get married?” 

They were tangled together on the couch, watching tv. Murphy had made James go to bed a couple of hours ago, so by now, he would be asleep. 

“Yes.” Harper seemed unphased by the question.

“Like, to me?” 

“Yes.” Harper looked up at him with an amused smile. “I’m not sure who else I would marry.”

“Just checking,” Murphy said. He shifted. “So, like, _when_ do you want to get married?”

“Why?” Harper asked, a mischievous grin on her face. 

“Oh, uhh-”

“Is _Murphy_ thinking about getting _married_?” Harper said, poking fun at him.

“I just might be,” Murphy said, refusing to get embarrassed. 

“Well,” Harper said, softer, “ _if_ you were to propose to me, I would be open to saying yes in the near to mid-range future.”

“What about the long-range future?” Murphy asked. He had to tease her at least a little bit.

“I don’t know,” Harper grinned slyly. “If you wait too long I might find other prospects.”

Murphy gasped in faux horror. “You wouldn’t!”

“I might,” Harper teased. 

* * *

Harper had been sending Murphy pictures of rings ever since their conversation a few days earlier. Murphy was quietly thankful for the help. He hadn’t thought far enough ahead to consider that he needed to get a ring that _she_ liked. 

One morning, Murphy was driving James to Fox’s house. “I want to talk to you,” Murphy said. He glanced in the rearview mirror to make sure that James was listening. “I have a surprise for Harper, so you can’t tell her about it.” Murphy trusted that James was old enough not to spill the beans—not that Harper would have really cared.

“Okay.”

“I want to ask her to marry me, and I wanted to make sure you are okay with that.”

James was silent for a moment. Murphy glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that James was deep in thought.

“Would that make Harper my mom?” James finally asked. 

Murphy wasn’t expecting that question. He wasn’t surprised though; James’ friends all had parents that were married, so it made sense that he equated Harper marrying Murphy to her becoming his mom.

“If you want her to be,” Murphy said, turning a corner.

Harper already did a lot for James. Murphy was still his parent, of course, but Harper dropped him off and picked him up from Fox’s house most days, and she’d stayed over with him when Murphy had been invited to Miller’s bachelor party. When James had to go to the hospital after he had fallen off the top of the playground and the school couldn’t get in contact with Murphy or Fox (his emergency contact), Harper had gone with him and stayed until Murphy had been able to get to the hospital. 

“I think I’d like if Harper was my mom,” James said.

“She can be your mom before she and I get married.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, you can ask her to be your mom if you want to.”

“What would it mean if she was my mom?”

“You should talk to her about that.” Murphy turned onto Fox’s street.

“Okay,” James said as Murphy parked in front of her house.

Murphy turned to the backseat. “I need to find a ring before I can ask her to marry me. Do you want to go with me after I pick you up?”

James nodded as he unbuckled his seatbelt and grabbed his backpack.

“Okay,” Murphy confirmed. “Have a good day,” he said as James opened the door, “make good choices.” He watched as James shut the door behind him and ran up the driveway to Fox’s front door. He waited until Fox opened the door and let James in with a wave to Murphy before pulling out his phone and sending a text to Harper.

**Murphy:** James might have an interesting question for you later

James was surprisingly helpful at the jewelry store. Murphy hadn’t been sure if he would just pick whatever he liked, regardless of what Harper might like, but James spent the whole time pointing out rings that looked like different ones that Harper had sent. 

Murphy had picked one that he liked and was in his price range and bought it. It had to be resized (thank you Harper for not-so-subtly telling him what her ring size was) but would be ready in a few days.

* * *

James came up to Murphy a few days later while he was cooking dinner. It was Wednesday, so Harper was at Yoga.

“Dad.”

“James.” Murphy momentarily looked away from the pasta sauce that he was making.

“Now that Harper’s my mom, can I help you ask her to marry you?" James had asked her to be his mom as soon as she had come home the day that Murphy told him that he was going to propose.

“Sure,” Murphy said, looking back at the sauce.

“Kendall got to help her step-dad propose to her mom,” James said. 

“That’s pretty cool.” Murphy was fairly sure that Kendall was a girl in his class. “How did he propose?”

James shrugged. “Kendall just said that it was in Paris.”

“We are definitely not going to Paris.”

“How are you going to propose?”

“I haven’t decided yet. Do you have any ideas?”

“Maybe you should buy her chocolate. Then she’ll definitely say yes.”

“The ring won’t be enough?” Murphy asked, an amused smile on his face.

“What if she’s hangry? Like in the Snickers commercials.”

Murphy laughed. “Good point. Anything else?”

“Maybe flowers too,” James added. “Harper was really happy when you got her flowers.”

“Okay, we need chocolate, flowers, and the ring,” Murphy said.

“I’ll write this down.” James hurried out of the kitchen and, from the sound of it, into his bedroom. A few seconds later he came back holding a notebook and pencil. He sat down at the kitchen table and started writing. “Chocolate, flowers,” James mumbled as he wrote, “ring, nice hair.”

“Nice hair?” Murphy asked.

“The girls in my class all like Anthony, and they say it’s because he has nice hair,” James explained.

They planned the engagement while they ate their spaghetti. When they were done, Murphy texted a picture of the plan to Bellamy

**Bellamy:** Nice penmanship

**Murphy:** Don’t make fun of my kid

**Bellamy:** James wrote that? That explains why it’s so much nicer than your usual handwriting

**Murphy:** I’m going to ignore that insult. What do you think?

**Bellamy:** Looks good. Clarke says it seems romantic.

**Murphy:** Clarke’s not supposed to know! What if she tells Harper?

**Bellamy:** I tell Clarke everything and she won’t tell Harper.

* * *

A week and a half later, the day of the proposal arrived. It was a Sunday, and Murphy had made an excuse that he was going over to Bellamy’s to help him build some furniture. He had run the excuse past Bellamy and Clarke so that they would know to back him up if Harper asked, and had told Harper in advance so that she could offer to watch James. She was always busy planning and prepping for the week ahead on Sundays, so Murphy knew she wouldn’t have any other plans, and she usually offered to watch James if she wasn’t too busy.

Instead of going to Bellamy and Clarke’s house, Murphy drove around the city for a while, picking up chocolate and flowers. Then he drove to the school where he knew that Harper would be. Murphy had gotten the number of the other Grade 3 teacher, Mrs. Harrison, through Bellamy, and had gotten her on board with his plan. She had asked Harper to come in to plan with her so that Harper had a reason to be at school and wouldn’t be suspicious. Mrs. Harrison had texted when she and Harper were done planning. That was Murphy’s cue to head to the playground behind the school.

It wasn’t long before, just as planned, James and Harper came out the side door. James ran over to Murphy, took the flowers and chocolate from him, and ran back to Harper. Harper had stopped as soon as she noticed Murphy sitting on the bench next to the park. She had a confused look on her face. 

They were too far away for Murphy to hear them, but if James had followed the plan, when he handed her the flowers and chocolate he had told Harper that there was something his dad had to ask her.

She was gaping, seemingly at a loss for words, when James grabbed her free hand and pulled her over to Murphy, who had stood up. He dropped her hand and took a step back, grinning from ear-to-ear.

Murphy took her free hand. “Harper.” He had to think really hard to remember what he planned to say. “This is where we were when you finally accepted my offer to go on a date. You made me really happy when you agreed to go out with me, and you’ve been making me happy ever since.”

Harper started tearing up.

“You love watching movies and cooking together. And most importantly, you love James. You’ve never been put off by the fact that I have a little extra baggage, and you help me become a better version of myself. I don’t deserve someone as good as you, but I’ll be damned if I don’t try to make up for it for the rest of my life, if you’ll have me.” Murphy fumbled in the pocket of his coat as he got down on one knee. “Harper McIntyre, will you marry me?” He opened the ring box

Harper covered her mouth. For a split second Murphy was worried that she wasn’t going to say yes, but she started vigorously nodding, put the flowers and chocolate down on the bench, and wrapped her arms around him.

“Yes!” she said as she pulled away.

Murphy got up and slid the ring onto her finger before she pulled him in for a kiss. 

At the same time that James said “ew!” there was clapping. Murphy looked up and saw Mrs. Harrison, who must have come outside while Murphy was proposing.

Harper wrapped her arms around him again. “I love you so much,” she whispered in his ear. She sounded almost as happy as he was, and he was the happiest man in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I can be found [here!](https://ruggedmurphy.tumblr.com/)


End file.
